After a lull, men’s apparel brands in India are back in business. The category which is used to see fairly high growth rates of 20 to 40 per cent is suddenly seeing a 60 per cent growth. Men are stocking up their wardrobes in great style this year.
“We are seeing a kind of buoyancy in the apparel sector, probably due to the booming market and the change in the buying patterns of Indian men. While earlier the slowdown had little impact on women's shopping habits, men had held back during the recession. But they are now shopping with a vengeance across brands and price segments. Indian men are getting into fashion like never before. Besides the buying preferences of Indian customer has changed a lot due to arrival of international high fashion brands,” says Abhay Gupta of Blues Clothing Company. And Gupta should know as the licensee of Cadini, Corneliani, Versace, Cerruti, and John Smedley brands in India he can see the change.
In fact, large format stores like Shoppers Stop saw a 45 per cent growth in men’s apparel sales in the first quarter. Likewise Central reported a 70 per cent growth in men’s apparel. Indus League too has reported a 20 per cent growth in average bill value this year. And why not, according to a new report: ‘Booming Men Apparel Market in India’, the Indian menswear market has grown at a 9 to 10 per cent over the previous year. “It forecasts the growth to reach 40.56 per cent from 2007 to 2012. Also the market valuation for menswear brands is expected to reach $13.8 billion by 2012. Today, the Indian menswear has a share of 10 per cent in the Asia-Pacific market. The report found that rural India, which was till now completely relying upon tailored garments, has created a strong demand for ready-to-wear garments and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.50 per cent by 2010, creating huge growth opportunities,” says Varun Jiwrajka, Head-Retail Operations, Alok H&A.
The other factor fuelling growth is the fast expanding market for branded clothes. Branded apparel sales are expected to increase at a CAGR of 24 per cent by 2010 the report has said. Shital Mehta, COO, Van Heusen rightly points out that the men’s apparel category which used to see fairly high growth rates of 20-40 per cent, is now suddenly seeing growth rates in excess of that. He too agrees the market has picked up and a lot of buying is happening this year. Van Heusen which last year saw a growth of 40 per cent, this year has already seen a growth of 60 per cent (from June to August) and same store grew by 41 per cent.
The early half of last year saw the smart casual segment get more hits than formals. As John Rabi, Marketing & Sales at Christian Fabre Textiles says it’s the casual wear segment that has registered a higher growth. “This is basically because the present day youth believes that a person can convey his attitude and outlook towards life through his dress.” At Celio, though the growth has been more in the sportswear segment. As Celio Future Fashion’s CEO Rajat Luthra points out, “Though, we have been having a healthy sales from our casual styles, our growth in the sportswear line has been remarkable. Sportswear accounted for majority of our season’s turnover. We have started anticipating this trend for our future collections also.”
